A Not So Modest Proposal
by Das Lieblingsfach
Summary: It's Christmas Day and Thomas, the baker, has something he wants to ask Anastasia. Things don't exactly go according to plan, however. One-shot, uber-fluff, result of an rp.


**A/N- **This is the result of a tumblr role play done for Christmas. I play Anastasia Tremaine while my husband plays Thomas. You may remember Thomas as the Baker/love-interest of Anastasia in Cinderella II. Well, we've made an attempt to flesh him out and give him a name (Thomas _Baker_, I kid you not) so he has sort of become our own OC, in a way, as he often does with people who make attempts to give him a semblance of a personality. Because this was a roleplay, the format is a bit different than most typical stories and might not flow as well- just so you know. By the way, here's some shameless self-promotion for you; the roleplay this came from is called **Disney Elites** and, as I mentioned, it's located on tumblr. We're in dire need of some new members and we have a lot of great characters still open, so if you like what you see here, be sure to drop on by and check it out. We're just a laid-back group who have a lot of fun and we'd love to have you!

In any case, I do hope you enjoy what's here! Happy Holidays.

**Disclaimer- **Sorta not mine.

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><p>Christmas had been good to Anastasia, there was no doubt about it. She had received several lovely hair pins from Drizella, a couple of good books from Cinderella and the Prince, a beautiful shawl from her mother, and a necklace and earrings from Thomas. Currently, they were spending this Christmas at the castle with her family, the Prince's, several distant cousins from both sides, and a number of friends. The castle was full, and warm and filled with Christmas cheer that evening as gifts were exchanged, as well as dances and kisses.<p>

But Anastasia's Christmas was not exactly complete. For whatever reason, she had really been hoping Thomas would pop the question tonight- and what a wonderful time to do it, too, when they were surrounded by the people they loved. She continued to steal glances in his direction, hoping against hope she would see some indication that he was readying himself to do it, but to no avail.

It was soon announced that the Christmas feast would be served in the dining hall and so the numerous guests began to move themselves in that direction. Anastasia locked arms with Thomas and looked up at him hopefully.

"Well, Tommy dear, are you having a good time? Got _everything_ you wanted? Given away _every _gift you intended to give?"

Thomas couldn't remember a better Christmas than this. The gifts for him had been rather generous, too- mostly things he could use in his bakery, but Anastasia knew he was also rather fond of adventure novels and gave him one having to do with pirates and buried treasure.

Still, though, things were sort of dampened by his nerves. It was certainly his fault and no one else's that he waited this long to ask Anastasia, so he only blamed himself. But things had to be done at the right time and in the proper order, so he would be forced to wait a bit more- until the dessert course, to be exact.

"I _am _having a good time, Ana. Can't you tell by the look on my face?"

He gave her a purposefully exaggerated smile and she scoffed and nudged him in the side.

"And, no, I haven't given away all of my gifts yet," he assured her, a bit slyly. "There's still _one more _that I need to give to certain _special someone_."

She seemed even more irritated by his vague tone and he just laughed, finding her more than a little bit adorable when she got frustrated. As they made their way into the dining hall he gave the Royal Chef, Pierre, a quick, secretive thumbs up, which he reciprocated. Thomas then knew he could rest a bit easier.

"I'm not sure I like all this secrecy, Thomas," Anastasia said, joking, if not a little frustrated. "It's making me all antsy and uncomfortable."

They then moved into the dining hall and took their seats at the large table, covered in food. At the sight of this, Anastasia quickly forgot her irritation.

"Oh, heavens," she gasped, marveling at the sight before her. "I…I…I'm not sure I've ever seen so much food in my life. Where to start?"

Thomas just laughed and smiled at her enthusiasm, loving the fact that she shared the same passion for eating that he did. He didn't think he'd have the stomach to eat very much this evening, however, if anything at all.

Sure enough, he spent most of the time talking to people around him and whispering and giggling with Anastasia about the funny-looking rich people in attendance, rather than consuming very much. The closer it got to the dessert course, the harder it became.

Finally, dessert was served and Thomas looked around desperately for Pierre as people were given their individual servings of cherry tart. He showed up in the kitchen door right when the servant was placing the slice of cherry tart in front of Anastasia. He gave Thomas another thumbs up and a wink, and Thomas simply nodded back, relieved.

Anastasia gasped at the sight of her favorite dessert -well, one of many- being served. Cherry tart? Could it be?

It had been awhile since she'd had some, too, so it was rather difficult not to dig in the moment it was placed before her. She had worked up enough restraint to wait until the hosts, Cinderella, the Prince, and the King, started before she did, but the moment they did she was almost attacking it, desperate to taste it once again.

It was unbelievably delicious and Anastasia felt like she had swallowed heaven- that is, until something inexplicably sharp and rather hard got lodged in her throat. She suddenly realized, in horror, that it was restricting her air passage. Desperately, she gripped her throat and began to try to ask for help, yielding only dire gurgles and gacks.

The other guests slowly began to look in her direction, gradually realizing that something was wrong.

Thomas had been purposefully avoiding looking over in Anastasia's direction, hoping that he would just soon hear a delighted squeal. But when said squeal was instead replaced by some unsettling, guttural sounds of distress, he was compelled to look over.

And _good lord_, she was CHOKING on the ring. She had swallowed it! Why hadn't he anticipated that? He knew how much she loved cherry tart, after all, and how she was definitely more of a fresser than an esser when it came to foods she especially loved- or any food, for that matter.

He rose quickly, bringing her up with him, before wrapping his arms around her waist from behind, interlocking his hands into fists, and nudging strongly from her navel to the base of her ribs repeatedly. Eventually she heaved, hacking the bite of cherry tart -plus ring- across the dining hall.

All of the guests paused only a moment before realizing his heroic deed and applauding him thusly. He was pleased _that_ had been the reaction, rather than an ongoing period of uncomfortable silence. This way, he and Pierre -who was currently standing awe-struck in the kitchen door- could sneak off and get the ring back from where it had been thrown.

He just hoped Anastasia hadn't seen it. This wasn't exactly the way he had hoped to propose to her.

Anastasia had to take a moment to recover from her near-death experience, but the moment she did so, she was wrapping arms around Thomas and kissing him fervently on the cheek.

"Oh, Tommy-bear, you saved me," she cooed, hugging him tighter. "I just knew you would! Thank goodness I had my knight in shining armor here to rescue me!"

Thomas breathed a deep sigh of relief and blushed when Anastasia began showering him in grateful affection. He had to pull her off before too long, however, knowing he needed to get the ring quickly.

"Of course, Ana, I wouldn't have just let you choke. But now you're going to have to let me go for a second, I need to…uhm…."

He had to take a moment think of a convincing excuse to get away, but it came to him rather quickly.

"Make a trip to bathroom. Yes, that's it, right this second. I'll be right back. Try to, uh, drink some water, okay?"

He kissed her quickly on the cheek before racing towards the spot where he thought he had seen the ring fall. Pierre was close behind him, apologizing profusely, half in French, for the whole incident.

"C'est ne pas grave, Pierre," Thomas assured him as he looked for the ring on hand and foot, yielding absolutely no results. He looked and looked but the ring was simply nowhere to be found.

He knew he couldn't remain like this for the rest of the evening, so he grudgingly rose and returned to his spot at the table beside Anastasia, trying -and failing- to hide his utter disappointment.

Anastasia could tell something was wrong the instant he returned. Thomas had never been very good at hiding his emotions, after all, at least not from her.

"What's the matter?" she asked as he sat down beside her once more. "Have an unpleasant bathroom experience? To be honest, I was a little unsure of that chicken…"

Thomas chuckled sadly and gave her a half-hearted half-smile.

"Could you…come outside with me for a second? I need to tell you something."

Anastasia gave him an inquisitive look of concern, but relented with a nod of her head and let him lead her out to the balcony. It was indisputably chilly outside, but gorgeous all the same. The sky was clear, with stars and a moon that shone like diamonds on the snow-laden kingdom, laid out before them.

Thomas sighed and leaned up against the railing of the balcony, staring blankly at what he would usually consider a beautiful sight. Not so this evening, considering all that had happened.

"I think it's only fair that you know what an utter failure I am. I tried so hard to do something incredible for you tonight and I botched it completely. You know what the worst part of it is? Everything that went wrong is something I should've known would happen."

Anastasia joined him, resting her elbows on the admittedly very cold surface of the stone balcony railing.

"Alright, so we're both screw-ups," she said softly. "I mean, as you know, I'm always messing things up, getting things wrong, tripping over my own shadow, all of that sorta stuff. Even if I wanted to, I'd have no right to judge you. But for goodness sakes, Thomas, what did you mess up in the first place? I don't even know what we're discussing here."

Thomas hesitated, chewing his lip nervously as he tried to decide how to explain the situation. He so didn't want it to pan out like this. She was supposed to discover the ring, jump and down excitedly, and then he would propose to her formally in front of everyone. It would be dramatic and romantic, just as Anastasia had hopefully envisioned it.

And yet, here he was, ring-less (from a ring he had spent quite a fortune on, as a matter of fact) and pathetically wasting time trying to figure out how to explain to this woman he loved so much that he had completely messed up the one moment she had been looking forward to for so long.

"Look, Anastasia…you're…my best friend. I…I just want to wake-up next to you every morning. I want to come home to you every night and eat dinner with you and complain about our days together. I want to argue with you over petty things until we can't remember what we're fighting about and then just decide to laugh and get over it and cuddle. I want to have kids with you and change their diapers and raise them together and be the best parents ever. I want to get old and feeble with you because I love you so, so, so much. I want you to be my wife, Ana. I want all of these things, but I _can't _ask you to marry me because I, the person who thought he was fit to be your husband, couldn't even remember how much you loved cherry tart and how obviously terrible an idea it was to try to hide an engagement ring in there for you to find by surprise."

Anastasia gasped loudly, clapping hands over her mouth in surprise. Thomas wanted to marry her? He was going to propose? She ruined it by gobbling the tart up like a pig and _choking_ on the godforsaken ring?

"Thomas…! Oh my gosh…this is all my fault! I-I-I didn't know there was ring in there! I wouldn't have eaten so fast had I known, I promise! Oh no, oh no, oh no…please, please don't blame yourself, this is all my doing."

Thomas took her hands into his to calm her down.

"Ana, stop. This is _my_ fault, not yours. I should have known better. I'm sorry I ruined everything, but I suppose it's better to find out now what a screw-up I can be rather than after you've made the mistake of marrying me."

He kissed her briefly on the cheek before turning to head back inside.

Anastasia grabbed Thomas' arm rather compulsively before he could get very far, and she couldn't help but be reminded of that day, a year ago, when he had done the same to her in the village courtyard.

"Tommy, please," she begged, bringing him back to face her. "I've wanted you to ask me to marry you for months now. Do you really think that just because your proposal didn't go off without a hitch that I'm just going to say no? I mean, isn't a marriage about more than just glitz and glamour and romance? We're not always going to have perfect moments, Tommy, and things aren't always going to go our way- especially with two people like us. But I _know_ we've got it right this time. Don't tell me you're just going to throw that away because of one slip-up."

"I don't feel confident anymore," he admitted. "I don't feel like I'm worthy to be asking you to take such a big step."

Thinking quickly, Anastasia took out one of her pearl earrings -a piece of a set her late father had given her for Christmas many years ago-, grabbed Thomas' hand, and fell to one knee before him in her Christmas gown on the cold balcony, wincing from glacial bite.

"Thomas Baker," she said, inhaling deeply. "If you're not going to ask me to marry you, then _I'm_ going to have to do the honors. Will you pretty, pretty please make me the happiest klutz in the kingdom by accepting this pearl earring in exchange for becoming my beloved husband?"

Initially, he felt a mixture of utter shame -for not just sucking it up and taking the plunge instead forcing his poor Anastasia to get on her knee- and surprise for what she was doing. He certainly wasn't expecting her to resort to that.

But then again, that's why he loved her. He never truly knew what Anastasia was going to do next and he found that angle to her very endearing and exciting. Once more, she was putting him through his paces, letting him know that his pride was most certainly not going to keep her from marrying him.

So he let himself laugh and forget whatever shame hung over his head. What more evidence did he need that she wanted to marry him and didn't care a lick for his lack-luster attempt at a proposal that almost get her killed? This is what they were, after all: two screw-ups. But it was what made them wonderful together.

"Of course I'll marry you, Ana," he said happily, bringing her to her feet and then twirling her around once in his arms. "I thought you'd _never_ ask."

He nuzzled his nose against hers -their signature Eskimo kiss- as he replaced the earring she had given him. Before he could promise her to either find the one he had lost or get her a new one, the sound of someone running up to them interrupted him.

"Thomas! Thomas!" Pierre cried, holding something in his hand. "Je l'ai trouvé! I have found it!"

From the way the small object sparkled in between the chef's fingers, Thomas could tell it was the very ring he had lost. It seemed rather superfluous now, but he accepted it from Pierre gratefully and then gently placed it on Anastasia's left ring finger.

Anastasia smiled widely at the sight and feel of it. It was an admittedly gorgeous silver band with curly designs leading to a ruby embedded in its center.

"You remembered I loved rubies," she mentioned. "And what my ring size was. I wouldn't call that screwing up at all, Tommy-bear."

She then gave him a lingering kiss before whispering, "Merry Christmas, husband-to-be."

He smiled warmly at her and kissed her on the forehead, proceeding to whisper back,

"Merry Christmas to you, wife-to-be."

He then put an arm around her waist and led her back to the railing of the balcony where they both took a moment to finally savor the scenic winter evening.

Eventually they'd have to go back inside and maybe even announce to everyone their successful engagement. But for now, Thomas was enjoying having it be a brief, sweet secret between the two of them.


End file.
